All right, class. Now, what have we learned from our experiences today?

Well, first off all, yes. You're right. April snowstorms are, indeed, stupid. Eight inches of heavy, wet, sloppy snow are no one's idea of a good time. Even the snowman committed self-beheading after an hour or so because it was too warm for this nonsense. And we've all seen what the trees think about this weather.

What else? Yes, that's true, we clearly do live in a society which is overly dependent on electricity. And, further, I'll agree that it is especially, painfully obvious just how intense that dependence is inside private homes. What's that? You think that the husbands and fathers of the world are far more technology-dependent than the mothers and children? Well, maybe so. But bear in mind we're working with a very limited sample size. Remember that there may be other adult males who don't view a power outage as a personal insult.

That's an interesting point you raise, there. That there is a certain, unpredictable point after which the parental types will start to snark and crab at each other while trying to decide whether to ride out the electriclessness at home or to give in and get a hotel room. And, yes, it's true, it's better to just let the mother sulk and get over herself than to try and needle or jolly her out of it. A good point and important to remember in the future.

All right, nice work, students. Now, head off to the hotel room and glare at the crystal clear, snowless night sky on your way there. You've got a full day ahead of you tomorrow, and then you can try to recover from all of this enforced adventure over the weekend.

Class dismissed.

Update: We have power restored to the house and will be home tonight. So much angst and irritability for such a non-emergency. I hate snow.

I knit. It's an obsession, and I am besotted. But I know not everyone is besotted, and this is not the right place to showcase my projects and, well, natter. So I've gathered up my knitting stuff and put it in its place. It's at http://knittingnattering.blogspot.com, and I'd love the company.